Nevada

LEAN Endorses Nevada State Ballot Questions 1 and 2

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Nevada’s early and mail-in voting runs Oct. 22-Nov. 4 in advance of the Nov. 8 general election, and LEAN is prepared to endorse two of the three State Questions that, if passed, would alter current Nevada State Constitution language.

After careful consideration, and guided by the ELCA Social Messages and Statements, LEAN advocate Bill Ledford and the LEAN policy board strongly endorse Question 1­, which would expand language guaranteeing equal rights to all. We also endorse, with certain understandings and acknowledgements, Question 2, which simplifies language that makes $12 per hour the minimum wage in Nevada beginning in 2024.

In keeping with Nevada Constitution-enshrined process, should Questions 1 and 2 pass, they would become law. Question 3, an initiative petition that promises changing the state’s primary voting process, would return to the ballot in 2024 should it pass legislative muster as a bill during the 2023 session. LEAN remains neutral on Question 3 since it deals directly with how candidates would be elected.

Here is the condensed language Question 1 as presented on the official ballot:

Senate Joint Resolution No. of the 80th Session: 

Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended by adding a specific guarantee that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any of its cities, counties, or other political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin?

This question earns LEAN’s strong endorsement for a “YES” vote. Its language reflects scriptural tenets of justice, fairness, mercy, social equality, and equal protection under the law – the very beliefs Jesus lived by, through word and action, as written in the gospels and acted upon throughout the New Testament, most powerfully in texts such as Matthew 25, which remains LEAN’s guiding scripture. And it fits into the parameters put forth in the ELCA’s Social Message on Human Rights.

Here is the condensed language Question 2 as presented on the official ballot:

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 10 of the 80th Session:

Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended, effective July 1, 2024, to: (1) establish the State’s minimum wage that employers must pay to certain employees at a rate of $12 per hour worked, subject to any applicable increases above that $12 rate provided by federal law or enacted by the Nevada Legislature; (2) remove the existing provisions setting different rates for the minimum wage based on whether the employer offers certain health benefits to such employees; and (3) remove the existing provisions for adjusting the minimum wage based on applicable increases in the cost of living?

This question deals with a constitutional change that LEAN has advocated for in the past: Increasing Nevada’s minimum wage to a livable, viable level. Though we believe that $12 per hour is still inadequate given ongoing cost of living challenges for Nevada workers and families, and indeed represents a legislative compromise in the two most recent sessions, it is far better than the $10.50 per hour currently enshrined in the Nevada State Constitution ($9.50 for those whose employer offers health insurance benefits). And though the minimum wage is already slated to increase to $12 in 2024, this Question’s passage would remove the language maintaining Nevada’s current tiered structure, which allows employers to pay a dollar less per hour if they also offer health insurance. We believe that simplifying the language to put all employees at the $12 level — with the ability for the legislature to raise the wage in the future, either on their own or in keeping with federal guidelines — is ultimately beneficial to workers and their families.

However, LEAN endorses a yes vote on Question 2 with the understanding that it is, by its nature and in keeping with state law, a more “permanent” change since it is indeed enshrined at the Constitutional level. We also understand that the law would be altered, as expressed in part 3 of Question 2, to remove language allowing for automatic cost of living increases. In the final analysis, we see this a plus for workers and families, since it would take nearly a decade for cost-of-living adjustments currently provided by the Nevada Constitution to exceeed the $12 per hour minimum. With that language removed, the mimimum wage could be raised sooner and more effectively.

Again, early voting runs Oct. 22-Nov. 4. Completed ballots can also be mailed up to and including election day, as long as the are postmarked by Nov. 8 and arrive at the country registar of voter’s office within four days of election day. They can also be dropped off at any early voting location or at your county’s main office.

If you are a first-time Nevada voter or need to update your voter registration, visit www.RegisterToVote.NV.gov.

Living With Hunger Handbook

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LEAN has long been a strong advocate for hunger awareness in Nevada and around the world. In that spirit, we have created a handbook for congregations to learn about what causes hunger, how families cope, and where they can seek help to create a stable, hunger-free future. This downloadable 20-page document offers five family role-playing scenarios for small group study, plus in-depth facts and figures about hunger in America and Nevada, study questions and much more. Download today and schedule a “Living With Hunger” educational event at your place of worship or small-group meeting venue.

lean-hunger-handbook-2022-2023Download

LEAN Marks 2021 Session Successes

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Supported Legislation Puts ELCA Social Statements Into Action

When the 2021 Nevada Legislature convened for its biennial, 120-day session in early February, the world was still in the throes of a deadly pandemic. Much of “normal” life was still months away. Most churches still worshipped online. Millions of Americans were out of work, in danger of losing their housing, and searching for the way forward. State legislators stared at huge fiscal holes, deep social fissures, and freshly exposed tears in the social safety net.

Thanks to a series of congressional stimulus packages, the fiscal alarms subsided as winter gave way to spring, which helped reorient Nevada’s assembly and senate toward addressing some of those rips in the fabric of society, many ignored for decades. And that gave the advocate and policy council for Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada (LEAN) plenty of opportunity to lend its support to legislation that would change Nevadans’ lives for the better.

Guided by the ELCA’s Social Statements and Social Messages, LEAN identified more than 30 active, sponsored bills to follow through the legislative process, with advocate Bill Ledford voicing support, strong support or opposition during virtual committee meetings – where the real “sausage” is made via amendment and debate – conducted via Zoom.

Following are eleven LEAN-supported bills that passed both legislative chambers and have either been signed into law by Gov. Steve Sisolak, or are awaiting his signature, plus one important senate resolution that LEAN heartily endorsed – and one bill that went down to defeat with LEAN’s stated opposition. They are organized under four specific categories tied directly to the Statements. These bills highlight the good work LEAN is doing on behalf of Nevada’s ELCA congregations, and provide the opportunity for parishioners to discuss them, pass them along or use as inspiration to get involved in current community social concerns, and  when the 2023 session approaches.

HUNGER, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Assembly Bill 62 (Passed) – Increases support for savings accounts for low-income citizens

AB 185 (Failed) – Rescinds minimum wage increases voted on last session (Opposed by LEAN)

Senate Bill 209 (Passed): Allows workers to use sick leave for any medical reason

SB420 (Passed): Establishes mechanism for creating a state public healthcare option

VOTER ACCESS

AB321 (Passed) – Establishes permanent law allowing for mail-in ballots in every election

AB422 (Passed) – Creates a modern centralized voter registration database, helping assure accurate information across all agencies and assuring both voter access and legal eligibility

JUSTICE REFORM 

AB158 (Passed) – Lessens penalties of minors offending via alcohol and cannabis, and moves policy from punishment to counseling

AB186 (Passed) – Prohibits Police quotas for citations and arrests, and personnel evaluations based on such

AB396 (Passed) – Restricts cases of police “justifiable homicide” to uniform standards

SB50 – (Passed) — Restricts the legal conditions allowing for no-knock warrants

RACIAL AND GENDER JUSTICE & EQUITY

AB157 (Passed) – Penalizes public use of calling police to infringe on others’ rights

SB327 (Passed) – Adds language to anti-discrimination laws to include racial hair styles

SCR5 (Passed) – Urges certain actions to address the public health crisis in Nevada (systemic racism)

To read either the full text of each piece of legislation, or its digest, click on the live link for each bill.

The Advocacy Beat Goes On

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The 2019 Nevada Legislature is slated to adjourn on Monday, June 3, barring a last-minute extension.

When it ends, the presiding officer in each chamber adjourns the meeting “sine die.”  This is a Latin phrase, universally mispronounced, that translates literally as “without a day.”  It makes it sound terribly final, as if no one is ever coming back again.  We all know that two years from now many of the same people will be back, often confronting the same issues. 

The work of government goes on, even when the Legislature is not in session.

LEAN’s work continues as well.  Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada exists for two related reasons:  To speak out on behalf of the least among us to elected officials, and to Lutherans and others across the state.  Both groups have power to change things.

LEAN has a paid Advocate at the Legislature during the Session. Bill Ledford has done well in his first session, testifying about proposals that the LEAN Board has chosen to take a position on. Some of these bills have passed, some have not. Next month we will sort some of this out.  Right now, a lot isn’t known, because so much legislation is decided in the last few days of a session. “Backroom Deals” are unfortunately common.

A previous post here was about several reforms that had been postponed because they carry spending requirements. Such postponements help set up conditions ripe for backroom deals, because pressure to “just get finished” is huge.

The deadline also enhances the power of lobbyists.  In the final days, there isn’t time for careful analysis of bills, and there is a tendency for legislators to rely on lobbyists for information, biased as it might be.

This is why it is so important for LEAN to have an Advocate at the Legislature.  Bill Ledford has been working all session to establish personal relationships with Senators and Assembly Members.  He has worked to explain why particular measures are good or bad policy in a just society.  He has worked to articulate our Lutheran Christian values as outlined in the ELCA Social Statements.

Bill’s advocacy and that of LEAN generally does not end at “sine die” any more than legislators become just private citizens when they go back home.  Bill will continue to connect with them, sometimes to discuss plans to try again in the next session to pass measures that failed, sometimes to discuss interim studies that take place between sessions.

The “interim,” or time between sessions, also is a time for LEAN to focus more on parishioners, helping them to understand the issues and the various ways those issues might be addressed. 

Financial support is needed to keep all this work going.  LEAN receives funds from ELCA Churchwide, and from the Sierra Pacific and Grand Canyon Synods.  We also receive support from congregations throughout the two synods.  LEAN is grateful for all support, and we operate frugally.

We hope to emphasize the “engagement” part of our name more in the next eighteen months.  Many know about the Legislative website, and about the resources it offers for keeping informed and for expressing views on legislation.  This does not disappear when the session ends.  We hope to do some training so more people can learn the tools at their disposal.  We are blessed to live in a state where direct access to elected officials is easy.  Martin Luther viewed committed, informed citizenship part of our Christian calling, and this is echoed in the first ELCA Social Statement, “The Church in Society.”  A lot has been written lately about how individuals need to work to reclaim democracy from special interests.  LEAN hopes to work with Lutherans and legislators across the state toward that goal.

LEAN Advocates Become ‘Legislators’

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By Sheila Freed

On August 7, Lutheran Engagement and Advocacy in Nevada met at the Nevada State Senate for a role-play called ULegislate.  It was great fun, and in typical Lutheran fashion, the group questioned authority.

ULegislate is a learning experience in which participants play the roles of Senators and have floor debate on actual bills that passed in the 2017 Session.  On two of the three bills that were up for debate, LEAN voted the same way that the Legislature did.  However LEAN voted down the third, and the reason was quite Lutheran.  The bill, Senate Bill 322, requires every pupil in Nevada to pass a civics test before graduating high school.  This is a concept we can all support, and LEAN did.  However the bill has several exceptions, and the group did not like that.  We Lutherans embrace the “priesthood of all believers,” and take seriously the notion that all believers are equal before God.   So the majority voted no, in hopes that the bill would return in a more acceptable form.

Participants learned the rigid protocol of Senate business, and that much of the legislative process happens not on the chamber floors, but in committee meetings and legislators’ offices.  Here is where advocacy comes in.  Our paid Advocate meets with legislators individually to present the moral arguments on selected bills, with particular reference to the ELCA Social Statements.  Individual parishioners can do the same, either in person or by email, phone call, or letter.  The LEAN Advocate also testifies at committee hearings on selected bills.

The Senate staff was helpful and accommodating. They even made a video for us!

It’s great fun to watch, for several reasons.  First, you will learn some facts you may not know, and hear some arguments for and against the bills that you might not have thought of.  You will hear a bit of Bob Marley quoted! You will see people you know and those you don’t, so a roster of participants is included here.  LEAN is excited that people came from Las Vegas to participate, and that new people from both north and south were there.

“Senators” participating in ULegislate were:  Chad Adamik, Pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Family, Carson City; John Biggs, Pastor of Saved by Grace, Pahrump; Veralyn Combs, member of Holy Cross, Reno; Ed Cotton, member of Community Lutheran, Las Vegas; Diane Drach-Meinel, Pastor of Christ the Servant, Las Vegas; Sonja Dresbach, member of Faith, Reno; Sheila Freed, member of Good Shepherd, Reno; Timothy Johnson, member of Lord of Mercy, Sparks; Bill Ledford, LEAN Advocate; Diane Ludlow, member of Holy Cross, Reno; Shaun O’Reilly, pastoral intern at Lord of Mercy, Sparks, Mike Patterson, retired pastor, Gift of Grace, Fernley; Barbara Peterson, member of Holy Cross, Sparks; Thomas Rasmussen, member of Saved by Grace, Pahrump; Pennie Sheaffer, member of Lord of Mercy, Sparks; Scott Trevithick, Pastor, Holy Cross, Reno; Ashlynne Valdez, member of Lord of Mercy, Sparks; Vic Williams, member of Good Shepherd, Reno.  “Secretary” of the Senate was Allan Smith, former LEAN Advocate.  If you want to learn more about LEAN, please connect with one of these folks.

ULegislate was just the first in a line-up of events designed to engage parishioners as LEAN moves into the 120-day 2019 Legislative Session.  Watch for “Pencils for Pupils” in January, followed by the LEAN kickoff lunch on February 4, the session’s first day.